Learning as associative patterning
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/03055720610716638 |
| Date | 01 October 2006 |
| Pages | 371-376 |
| Published date | 01 October 2006 |
| Author | Alex Bennet,David Bennet |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
THE LEARNING ORGANIZATION
Learning as associative patterning
Alex Bennet and David Bennet
Mountain Quest Institute, Frost, West Virginia, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this article is to link the associative learning process of the human brain to
the relationship and emergence of really significant ideas on the global horizon.
Design/methodology/approach – First, learning is explored from the viewpoint of the brain/mind,
with a focus on the creation of patterns and their relationships to our personal frames of reference.
Second, the associations of three really significant ideas are explored, and a pattern of patterns is
surfaced.
Findings – The paper finds that in concert with the functioning of the brain, significant ideas emerge
in relationship with other ideas that have personal historical significance, i.e. external patterns from
the environment are detected, recognized, made sense of and have meaning in relationship with our
internal patterns of significance.
Originality/value – The paper creates an appreciation of the role of patterns in thinking and
learning.
Keywords Learning, Workingpatterns, Brain
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
Have you ever noticed that really significant ideas appearing on the global horizon
have connections to the really significant ideas you have been spending weeks, or
months, or years reflecting on? We might even go so far as to say they are in
relationship with each other. They are.
Everything we learn in a sense is patterns, whether repetitious patterns or patterns
that provide meaning because of the way we interpret them. As Stonier (1997, p. 154-5)
suggests:
In both the computer and the brain information exists in the form of patterns. The software
resides in the computer as a pattern of on/off switches; the mind resides in the brain as
patterns of neural connections.
These patterns are groups of neurons with their synapse connection strengths between
the synaptic spaces. For example, a single thought like “one” might be represented in
our brain by a network of a million neurons, each connected to 1,000 other neurons via
neurotransmitter chemicals that pass through the synaptic cleft, a space between an
axon of one neuron and a dendrite of another. As Kandal (2006, p. 198) notes:
The neural circuits concerned with memory have synaptic connections that change in
strength with learning. This mechanism forms the basis of memory and higher cognitive
functioning. (Kandel, 2006, p. 198).
Strong connections translate into the ease of thought associations or memory recall. In
a recent conversation with a West Virginia government executive this feeling of ease
was described as “ruts in the brain.” She felt that the more she used a particular
connection, or repeated a particular set of thoughts, the easier it was to pull them up. In
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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Learning as
associative
patterning
371
VINE: The journal of information and
knowledge management systems
Vol. 36 No. 4, 2006
pp. 371-376
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0305-5728
DOI 10.1108/03055720610716638
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